The present invention relates generally to frozen food storage and dispensing systems, and more particularly to an automated system for dispensing individual portions of one or a variety of frozen food products for use in conjunction with an automated deep fat fryer.
Generally, even though fryers are now available for cooking such food stuffs as french fries under computer controlled conditions, the operation used in most fast food chain restaurants uses manual labor to carry out a large part of the operation. In the typical operation, frying baskets are manually filled with pre-cut, partially cooked (parfried) strips of potatoes away from the fryer, and subsequently loaded onto a slack rack. When the operator wishes to cook the potatoes, a basket is manually removed from the slack rack and inserted into the basket lift arm of the fryer. The start button is pressed on the computer controlled fryer, and the basket lift arm lowers the basket into the preheated shortening. About thirty seconds into the cook, the operator usually manually raises the basket slightly and shakes it to break up strips of potatoes which may be stuck together. At the end of the cook cycle, the baskets are automatically raised by the lift arm out of the shortening. The baskets are then allowed to remain in a position above the fryer so that excess oil will drip back into the fryer. If done correctly, the basket is moderately shaken by the operator to remove as much oil as possible, and then manually removed from the lift arm. The french fried potatoes are then manually brought to a holding station, and emptied in the holding station. In the holding station, the fries are manually salted and packaged using a fry scoop. The current practice is to hold the french fries unpackaged for up to 7 minutes and package them to order. Unsalted orders generally require cooking to order. A typical store using two adjacent fryers at a fry station will cook 100 lbs/day, which represents approximately 60-100 baskets of french fries.
Next to food costs, direct labor currently represents the largest operating cost component of this deep fat frying operation, currently accounting for approximately 21% of the total operating cost. Furthermore, fry station workers are becoming increasingly difficult to recruit since the segment of the work force willing to work in the hot, grease-laden environment of fast food restaurants is currently steadily declining, especially in the Northeast portion of the United States.
There is an increased interest therefore in automating deep fat frying operations by automating material handling and production control so as to (1) minimize the impact of crew member shortage, (2) reduce labor cost, occupational hazards and associated liabilities, and (3) improve the fried product consistency. Recent advances in computer-controlled operation of deep fat fryers have been limited in their utility, however, by the need for an automated frozen food storage and dispensing system capable of operating in conjunction with the frying apparatus. Such a system must be capable of maintaining the food product in a frozen state until almost immediately prior to cooking, of repeatably and reliably delivering a predetermined quantity of food product to a fry basket as needed, and of being quickly and easily accessed for periodic refilling and cleaning. It is especially desirable that such a system be capable of accommodating and delivering on demand a variety of different frozen food products to different fry baskets.
In general, the prior art shows a variety of apparatuses for storing, conveying and dispensing food and non-food products in individualized containers or boxes. Several of these prior art patents show conveyors in various configurations and orientations. Several of the prior art patents also show the combination of a conveyor apparatus and a freezer or refrigeration compartment.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,237,804 (Bardy et al.) teaches an automatic food storage and dispensing apparatus in which food portions are held in open pans or trays seated on hinged shelves on two spaced, parallel vertical conveyors positioned inside a temperature-controlled cabinet. At col. 2, lines 19-24, the Bardy et al. patent explains the intended use of the patented apparatus as follows: "One of the uses for which the presently disclosed apparatus has been specially developed is the refrigerated storage and dispensing of foods which are to be fried and placed on trays in a completely automated process. Examples of goods which are typically fried are: chicken, fish, shrimp, onion rings and potatoes." In the Bardy et al. patent, food is dispensed by sliding a food-carrying tray down an incline to a horizontal conveyor that, in turn, carries the tray to a "tray dumping mechanism," (col. 2, lines 61-62).
The complex Bardy et al. system, however, involving multiple conveyors and sliding trays, would be difficult and costly to control and maintain in practice. The combination of numerous different moving parts and the likelihood of contamination and frequent spillage from the open food trays while they are on the vertical or horizontal conveyors or while sliding from the cabinet to the horizontal conveyor virtually guarantees unsanitary and unsightly operating conditions and frequent down times for cleaning. Indeed, even in the absence of any spillage, the open food storage trays of Bardy et al. represent unacceptable sanitary conditions under modern health codes. Moreover, after "dumping" each food tray must be recovered, cleaned, refilled, and reloaded on one of the vertical conveyors, a costly and labor-intensive procedure. Reusing the food trays of Bardy et al. without cleaning them would compromise sanitary conditions because the trays are removed from the protection of the cabinet and exposed to various environmental contaminants while moving from the cabinet to the tray dumping position.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,497,219 (Haumann) describes a coin-operated vending machine "adapted to vend frozen articles such as ice cream bars and the like," (col. 1, lines 1-4). The apparatus comprises a freezer compartment and a continuous vertical conveyor having a plurality of receiving pockets for storing the ice cream bars (FIG. 5). The apparatus also includes an ejection/dispensing system whereby an ejection arm pushes each ice cream bar out of its receiving pocket and over the upper edge of an inclined discharge passage (FIGS. 6, 7 and 11). The ice cream bar slides down the discharge passage (numeral 73 in FIG. 11), out through door 74, and into discharge tray 77.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,432 (Hoeberigs) is directed to a coin-operated automatic vending machine for cooked or fried foods such as french-fried potatoes. The Hoeberigs apparatus comprises a cooled food storage compartment housing a continuous vertical conveyor that carries a series of 4-compartment food holders (FIGS. 1 and 2). The food holders are designed to freely hang so as to be rotatable about a horizontal axis so as to be capable of a tipping movement (FIG. 4) which results in emptying the contents of a holder into a 4-compartment funnel (FIG. 1, reference numeral 35) and thence along a guide surface (reference numerals 52 and 53) which directs the respective food products into a frying basket (reference numeral 54). An earlier version of this invention is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,672 (Hoeberigs) wherein food containers carried on a continuous vertical conveyor can be tipped so as to pour the food product into a ladle by action of gravity. The pivotally-mounted ladle then descends into a cooking cauldron.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,804,982 (Verrinder); 3,779,410 (Phillips et al.); 3,315,785 (Shiffer); and 4,979,864 (Cahlander et al.) show the general concept of tipping or inverting a box or container in order to empty the contents thereof by action of gravity. For example, Phillips et al. is directed to a machine for automatically unloading chewing gum base materials from cooling pans as the pans move along a horizontal conveyor. A filled pan is propelled out of the conveyor where it is inverted, lifted and vibrated to separate the gum base from the pan.
None of the aforementioned prior art patents, however, teaches a system intended for or capable of use as an automated frozen food storage and dispensing system consistent with modern sanitation requirements, efficiency and flexibility of operation and labor-saving needs, and compatible with computer-controlled automated frying systems (such as the one described in pending parent application, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/759,606, filed in the names of Richard N. Caron, David H. McFadden, John M. Collins, and John Dieckman, which application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/458,982, filed in the names of the same inventors and now abandoned), both applications being described hereinafter as the "Prior Applications". More particularly, none of the aforementioned prior art patents teaches an automated frozen food dispenser which, when operated as part of an automated, integrated frying system, can quickly and easily respond, with a minimum of manual labor, to the normal ebb and flow of business during the course of a day at a modern fast food restaurant. These and other problems with and limitations of the prior art are overcome with the frozen food dispensing freezer of this invention.